When Ghana's President John Kuffour handed the peace batton to former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, few people in Kenya had hope that there would be breakthrough in the negotiations. That was a month ago, when the political temparatures were so high and threatening to boil over to a full blown civil war. Kenyans were scared and at the same time continued with the violence. It was a contradiction.
But with a month of continued engagement, there is renewed confidence that there will be a lasting peace deal. This confidence in the streets of Nairobi is also reflected in the blogosphere.
Where Madness Resides sums up what many people are feeling [1] about the soft spoken Annan:
Right now, I'm loving Annan so much that it's threatening to become a cult. I love his grit and determination, his “I'm not ready to contemplate failure. I'm not ready to give up now.”
Of all the people involved in this process, he's the only one I've been able to trust as not having come laden with a basketful of hidden agendas or worse still, having been lowered as a puppet into our circumstances by “vested interests.”
I'm the people, and I feel as though Annan is looking beyond the shenanigans of both sides of the political divide, that he sees me, and that he is using me as a true north, to navigate his way to the Kenya That Ought To Be from this desolate place called Kenya Today.
Kumekucha talks about the new foundation [2] that the negotiations are laying:
Kenyans are far ahead of their leaders and we must seize this opportunity to shape our country into what we want. That is no premature celebration for the far sighted by any means. It is time to lay the foundation for corporate leadership and banish deceptive and selfish rulership – the NARC dream reincarnated.
KenyaImagine reported the breakthrough [3]:
In a press conference Annan has said that warring parties have agreed to come to a political solution to end the current crisis in Kenya. Annan continued to say that the details of this agreement will be made public next week. Annan has also advised President Kibaki to convene parliament as soon as possible.
Former Tanzanian president, Benjamin Mkapa, who is part of the mediation team headed by Annan, has called onto members of parliament to meet with members of the mediation team on both sides.